Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for use in microorganism culture tests of liquid samples containing given microorganisms, and more particularly, to such an apparatus capable of cultivating microorganisms such as bacteria and eumycetes isolatedly from the liquid sample in a simple manner even when the sample contains antibiotics.
Isolation cultures are known in the art. Culture procedures vary depending on the type of sample to be tested. For example, a test on bacteria in blood was carried out by mixing a blood sample with a liquid growth medium. An isolation culture is then carried out in an isolation culture medium such as a blood agar plate and chocolate agar plate. Since it was impossible to directly isolate microorganisms from samples and an extra incubation step was necessary, prior art culturing procedures were rather cumbersome and time consuming. Detection was sometimes impossible when samples contained few microorganisms.
Furthermore, in culture tests of blood samples from septicemia patients, for example, the samples contain antibiotics which have been administered to the patients. These antibiotics significantly inhibit the growth of microorganisms in cultures, adversely affecting the test results. A testing apparatus as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,877 failed to provide accurate test results when samples contained antibiotics. There is a need for a testing apparatus capable of providing accurate test results from antibiotic-containing samples.